


tell me that you'll never leave

by dryadfiona



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, Other, Redemption, i wrote it as romantic but u can interpret it as platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-19 10:05:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7356877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dryadfiona/pseuds/dryadfiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They find Jasper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tell me that you'll never leave

When Jasper first crawls her way out of the hole they drilled from, it only takes Pearl a few seconds to have her spear at her neck.

"I'm not here to fight you," Jasper says, and Pearl doesn't even bother to chide Amethyst for her language when she says, "What a load of horseshit."

"I just want to get off this miserable planet," Jasper  _snarls,_ and Pearl's tempted to crack her gem now and end it, but then she'd be no better than Homeworld.

"And tell Yellow Diamond to come and kill us?" Pearl hisses. "No."

Jasper scoffs. "Why are you so determined to protect this place? What's worth protecting?"

"Everything," Pearl says.

Jasper regards her for a moment before saying, "If you don't help me get back to Homeworld, and you're not cracking my gem, what are you going to do with me?"

"What makes you think we're not cracking your gem?"

"You'd have done it already," and okay, she's got a point. "So what? You can't just tie me up."

\--

"You  _tied Jasper up?_ " Peridot asks in disbelief.

"Yes."

"And put her in the bathroom?"

"Yes," Pearl repeats with a sigh. "It worked for you."

"Holy shit."

"Amethyst, stop teaching Peridot bad language."

"C'mon, P, the situation warrants it."

Garnet hadn't said anything when Pearl showed up with Jasper, a sign that this had  _not_ been something she'd seen, and she just stared for a minute before pointing to the bathroom.

"Guys, you have to stop putting people in my bathroom," Steven says. "I  _need_ my bathroom."

"Well, there's no where else!" Pearl snaps. "I'd never ask Lapis if she'd be alright with having Jasper near her--"

"I know, I'm not saying you should--"

"And I can't trust humans to look after a Gem warrior, so she'll stay in the bathroom until we find an alternative."

Steven groans. "Fine. I guess I'll walk to the Big Donut every time I need to use the bathroom."

"If you have any other ideas, we could try them?" Peridot says, and when the hell did she become the voice of reason?

"We could keep her in my mom's room?" Steven asks.

"Absolutely not," Pearl snaps.

"But--"

" _Not_ an option. End of discussion."

\--

Someone has to check in on Jasper at least two times a day. Amethyst admits she'd probably get roped into a fight that Jasper could possibly escape in. Garnet stays quiet for a second before saying, "Ruby thinks that's a bad idea." Peridot just stares at Pearl when she suggests it. Lapis doesn't want to and no one would make her. Steven offers, but everyone thinks it's a bad idea.

That leaves Pearl.

Pearl checks much more than two times a day. Pretty much any time when she doesn't have something  _vital_ to do, she's checking in.

Jasper doesn't say much when she's checking in. Anything, really. She just stares at Pearl, who glares back then leaves, telling the others, yes, don't worry, the restraints are still there, she's not gonna get loose and kill us all, for now, at least.

She only talks when they pull her out of the bathroom so Steven can use it, which, admittedly, is often-- _how have humans evolved so inefficiently?_ \--and even then only to ask questions.

"Why are you moving me?" and Pearl almost drops her the first time she hears that because it's the first she's heard Jasper speak since they put her  _in_ the bathroom.

"I have to use the bathroom," Steven says cheerfully, closing the door behind him.

"What does that  _mean_?" Jasper wonders aloud, turning her head to look at Pearl. Her eyes are catlike.

"Shut up," Pearl says, breaking eye contact.

\--

The next time they take her out of the bathroom, Jasper says, "This doesn't work."

"Shut  _up_ ," Pearl hisses.

"You can't keep taking me out. You can't keep just  _leaving_ me in there," Jasper says, and her face scrunches up, which is kind of funny because her nose is a gem and that whole gesture is because of stopping bad smells but she can't smell so why is she  _doing_ that and oh, she's still speaking.

"I heard Rose--"

"No, you  _didn't_ , Rose is  _dead_ ," Pearl practically snarls, and Amethyst, standing guard behind her, actually flinches back. "You heard  _Steven_. They are not the same."

Jasper stares at her again, and says, "Okay."

"Now shut--"

" _Steven_ suggested Rose's room," Jasper finishes. "It's better for all of us."

"I'd never let you in there," Pearl hisses, shoving her back in the bathroom.

\--

"Pearl," Garnet says. "We have to move Jasper."

"Garnet, we can't--"

"Rose's room is the only option," Garnet says calmly, and Pearl's heart drops.

She's the one in charge of Jasper, so she has to take her there. Steven opens the room and Pearl shoves her inside. She falls--still tied up--and asks, "Aren't you going to let me up?"

Pearl is about to say no and ask Steven to close the door when he  _walks in_ and helps her. "Thank you," she says, clearly confused. "Steven?"

He beams at her, and Pearl is torn between pride at his optimism and terror at his being so near her. "Yeah! Pearl?"

"Steven, get over here."

"Can we take off her restraints?"

Jasper blinks, clearly surprised. Pearl wishes she was.

"I mean, she can't open the door," Steven reasons. "And isn't it kind of cruel to have her tied up? It's been a few days."

Pearl sighs. "Steven, you know she's dangerous."

"So are you."

He may just be flattering her so she'll listen, but that's not Steven's style and even if it was, it's working.

Steven leaves the room and Pearl uses her spear to tear away at the ropes. They break and Jasper stretches, arms up in the air. Pearl still has her spear ready, waiting for the inevitable attack, but Jasper just turns around and...looks at her.

"Thank you," Jasper says, as if the words are the hardest thing she's ever had to say.

"Don't make me regret it," Pearl says, keeping her eyes on her as she backs towards the door.

\--

Pearl still has to check in on her. Technically, she doesn't, but there's no way she's leaving Jasper in Rose's room without supervising. However, she can't open the door--Rose's room is entirely sealed off unless Steven chooses to change it, that's why they put her there--so she has to bring Steven with her. She at least has been able to convince him to stay behind her in case she does choose to attack.

"Why did Rose stay here?" Jasper wonders.

"You ask a lot of questions," Pearl says warily.

"I'm curious," Jasper says. "There's  _nothing_ here but these clouds!" She kicked one near the ground and it dissipated. "Your  _general_ just sat around and did nothing."

"Actually, you can make anything appear here!" Steven says. "Well... _you_ can't. I can! Except food."

"Food?"

"Um, I guess that's not an issue for you. Here, let me show you."

"Steven--"

Completely ignoring her, Steven made a chair appear out of thin air and sat down.

Jasper's eyes widened. "How did you do that?"

"I have the rose quartz gem," Steven shrugs. "I can control the room because she could."

"Yes, but how?"

"I dunno," Steven says with a shrug.

"Actually, Steven, it's--" Pearl stops only when Jasper turns to her with interest. "Something I can explain to you  _later_."

"You're just going to leave me with nothing to do here?"

"Room!" Steven yells. "Let Jasper make what she wants, as long as it won't hurt any of us."

Jasper looks around and says hesitantly, "Homeworld."

"No, no," Steven says. "The room can't handle too much--"

But even so, the room shifts around them into something both utterly alien and  _familiar_ to Pearl. The architecture is harsher and the lights are far too bright, but the sky is what she used to look out on.

"Just be careful," Pearl warns. "The room will break down if you try too much."

Jasper nods. "Thank you. Steven."

Steven beams at her. Jaspera actually smiles back.

\--

The next time Pearl checks on Jasper--Steven staying at the door to open it when needed and not actually coming into the room with her--Jasper has an axe and is practicing, form nearly perfect.

"If you bend your knees a bit, your strike would be a lot quicker," Pearl says, not thinking.

Jasper turns back to Pearl. "Thank you. How do you know that?"

"I trained for years," Pearl says.

"But you're a pearl," Jasper says, confused.

"Yeah, and?" Pearl says, angry now. "The type of Gem I am shouldn't stop me from doing  _anything_. Yes, I'm a pearl, and I still took on Homeworld and lived to tell the tale."

There's a pause, and Jasper looks down. "I was told you were defective. That's why you were able to fight."

"No," Pearl says coldly. "I chose to. I trained. I won, because of my own skill."

Jasper still looks confused. "But...that goes against everything I've ever been taught."

"What you were taught was  _wrong._ Homeworld is not the only planet that matters. The type of Gem you are isn't the only thing that defines you!"

Jasper drops the axe, and it dissolves into pink clouds. "What do I do with that information?"

"I'm sorry?"

"If Homeworld is wrong, I can't fight for them anymore." Jasper looks up at her, her eyes wide, and she's almost beautiful.

"I didn't think you cared about right and wrong?" Pearl says.

"Not wrong in terms of  _morality_ "--and that's the most disdainful way Pearl has ever heard anyone say the word morality--"But in truth. I want to fight for what is  _true_. If Homeworld is false, then I won't fight by them."

"That's..." Pearl sighs. "Admirable of you."

"Isn't that why you left Homeworld?" Jasper asks.

"No," Pearl admits. "I left for Rose."

"Rose Quartz."

"Yes."

"Your general?"

"She was so much more than that," Pearl says quietly.

"You loved her."

"Yes," Pearl says.

Jasper doesn't respond. "You were loyal. More than I could ever hope to be."

"I was reckless," Pearl says, smiling. "I miss that, sometimes."

"But--" Jasper sighs. "If you left for Rose, how did you find out Homeworld was wrong?"

"Not for a long time," Pearl says quietly. "Not until Steven was born."

"Steven is human?"

"Half-human, half-Gem. Rose is his mother."

"How?"

"She shifted--for so long, her body couldn't handle it. She gave up her life so Steven could live." Pearl wipes away a tear. "He is one of the Crystal Gems, but he's also so human. He's shown us--he's shown  _me_ how beautiful this world is. It took Rose's death to show me what she'd known all along."

Jasper nods. "Can you show me?"

Pearl looks at her, surprised. "I...doubt I'm the person. I still don't know enough about Earth, and--"

Jasper takes her hand. "I trust you. You're the only one who'll be honest with me."

Pearl looks down at their hands. "Okay."

"Really?"

"I have to convince Garnet first, though."


End file.
